After delays, season begins this week
Consumers could have crab dinners by this weekend
Hungry for fresh Dungeness crab? It could be served by the end of this week or early next week.
After the commercial season was delayed due to price negotiations, whale entanglement concerns in some areas and a local struggle to complete quality testing, the season should finally get underway this week with gear being set after the storm that begins Monday night.
“Hopefully, the consumers who have been waiting will take advantage of our fishermen’s work,” said Mike Conroy, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “They lost the first two months partially because of whales and partially because of price. Hopefully, the consumer will reward our guys.”
Local food aficionados who are part of the Facebook group Humboldt Foodies, a group with more than 16,000 members, have commented recently that prices for crab are sky-high, a factor likely caused by the lack of availability, according to Conroy.
“I would imagine the high price right now is because the West Coast hasn’t started its season yet,” he said. “The only supply that’s been available is what’s been in stock from Canada or Alaska.”
But local crabbers plan to set gear this week.
“We have come up with a gentleman’s agreement to set gear on Thursday at 8 a.m.,” said Harrison Ibach, the president of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association.
He said that means crab could be available from retail outlets “sometime this weekend” or “definitely by early next week.”
While recent years have seen shortened seasons due to domoic acid concerns, that is one issue that appears to be less of a concern this year.
“We passed the domoic acid test with flying colors a little while ago,” Ibach said. “There is a little bit of a heightened risk up in Washington (state) and that is all.
The bigger concern this year is the availability of the crabs themselves. The local quality testing was difficult to complete because of the limited number of crabs.
“We do not expect this to be a very good year,” said Ibach. “We expect this to be a low volume year.”
Susan Rotwein, who operates Cap’n Zach’s Crab House in McKinleyville, noted that in contrast with recent past years, “We are starting to see a normalization in ocean conditions.”
She said she is regularly asked about crab prices by consumers.
“It gets challenging on the retail end,” she said. “… One of the things that concerns me is that when consumers look at the price the fishermen get. Why am I paying $6 a pound, when the fishermen are getting $3.50?”
The answer, she said, is that processing the crabs is costly.
“The majority of people do not buy their crab live; the majority buy them cooked,” Rotwein said. “There is a process that has to occur. That’s where those costs are being incurred.”
She noted this year’s catch is expected to be “fat and full.”
Rotwein also said that COVID-19 is not a significant factor for crabbers to contend with.
“Generally speaking, the environment of being on a boat is not a big environment to transmit disease,” she said. “The bigger issues for COVID are not on the fishing end, they are on the processing end.”
She added that Cap’n Zach’s is positioned well because much of it is already outside.
“At Cap’n Zach’s, we’re practically outside, so it’s perfect,” Rotwein said. “… It doesn’t get any better than that. We have a small place. Lots of doors.”